Clay, Lucius
Clay, Lucius (1897–1978), army general and diplomat.Born in Marietta, Georgia, Clay graduated from West Point in 1918 as a military engineer. His career departed from the routine with assignments to the International Naval Conference in Brussels in 1934 and to the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines in 1937.
During World War II, Clay became deputy director of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion (1944). In 1945, he served briefly as deputy to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, and then as deputy military governor of the U.S. zone in Germany. From 1947 to 1949 he served as commander of U.S. forces in Europe, and as U.S. military governor in Germany. Clay won acclaim for his direction of operations including the Berlin Airlift in the American response to the Soviets' blockade of the western access routes to Berlin in 1948–49. His determination and his blunt criticism of the Soviets made him a symbol of the U.S. support for West Berlin. He retired from the army as a full general in May 1949, and served as chairman of the board of Continental Can Company from 1950 to 1962.
At the time of the Berlin Wall crisis of 1961, President John F. Kennedy recalled Clay to active duty to symbolize U.S. commitment to the city. Clay served from September 1961 to May 1962 as Kennedy's personal representative in Berlin, with the rank of ambassador. The crisis reached a flashpoint in October 1961, when, with Kennedy's permission to take a strong stance, Clay ordered ten M‐48 tanks to the entrypoint of the wall, “Checkpoint Charlie,” where they were met with a similar Soviet armored force. Kennedy made a secret appeal to Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev to defuse the crisis, and both sides withdrew their tanks after the show of force.
[See also Berlin Crises; Germany, U.S. Military Involvement in.]
During World War II, Clay became deputy director of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion (1944). In 1945, he served briefly as deputy to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, and then as deputy military governor of the U.S. zone in Germany. From 1947 to 1949 he served as commander of U.S. forces in Europe, and as U.S. military governor in Germany. Clay won acclaim for his direction of operations including the Berlin Airlift in the American response to the Soviets' blockade of the western access routes to Berlin in 1948–49. His determination and his blunt criticism of the Soviets made him a symbol of the U.S. support for West Berlin. He retired from the army as a full general in May 1949, and served as chairman of the board of Continental Can Company from 1950 to 1962.
At the time of the Berlin Wall crisis of 1961, President John F. Kennedy recalled Clay to active duty to symbolize U.S. commitment to the city. Clay served from September 1961 to May 1962 as Kennedy's personal representative in Berlin, with the rank of ambassador. The crisis reached a flashpoint in October 1961, when, with Kennedy's permission to take a strong stance, Clay ordered ten M‐48 tanks to the entrypoint of the wall, “Checkpoint Charlie,” where they were met with a similar Soviet armored force. Kennedy made a secret appeal to Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev to defuse the crisis, and both sides withdrew their tanks after the show of force.
[See also Berlin Crises; Germany, U.S. Military Involvement in.]
Bibliography
Lucius D. Clay , Decision in Germany, 1950.
Lucius D. Clay , The Papers of General Lucius D. Clay: Germany 1945–1949, 2 vols., ed. Jean Edward Smith, 1974.
John H. Backer , Winds of History: The German Years of Lucius DuBignon Clay, 1983.
John Whiteclay Chambers II
More From encyclopedia.com
Berlin Airlift , Berlin Airlift (1948–49).The Soviet blockade of Berlin was triggered by Allied currency reforms opposed by Josef Stalin as a step toward unification… Helmut Kohl , Ludwigshafen, Germany
German chancellor
H elmut Kohl became the chancellor of West Germany in the early 1980s. After West Germany and East Germany re… Berlin Wall , █ DAVID TULLOCH
In the early hours of August 13, 1961, the border crossings between the eastern Soviet Occupied Zone of Berlin and the western Americ… Konrad Adenauer , Born January 5, 1876
Cologne, Germany
Rhoendorf, West Germany
West German chancellor
K onrad Adenauer was the first chancellor of West Germany, offic… John Fitzgerald Kennedy , John F. Kennedy
Carl M. Brauer
TWENTY years after John F. Kennedy was assassinated, a public opinion poll indicated that he was rated best overall of… Cuban Missile Crisis , █ LARRY GILMAN
The Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 was triggered by the Soviet deployment to Cuba of medium-range, nucleararmed ballistic missil…
About this article
Lucius DuBignon Clay
All Sources -
You Might Also Like
NEARBY TERMS
Lucius DuBignon Clay